Gopher

Description

"Gopher is a name given by the early French settlers in the United States to various animals which honeycomb the ground by burrowing in it. In Illiois and canada it was given to a gray burrowing squirrel, in Wisconsin to a striped squirrel, and in Missouri to a burrowing pouched rat. All these are mammals; but in Georgia the term is applied to a snake, and in Florida to a turtle."—(Charles Leonard-Stuart, 1911)